


In family you can be whatever you want, even yourself

by LesnaVra



Category: Gintama
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Drinking, Friendship, Gintoki's POV, Ginzura - Freeform, M/M, and maybe some pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-30
Updated: 2019-05-30
Packaged: 2020-03-29 20:32:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,079
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19027402
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LesnaVra/pseuds/LesnaVra
Summary: "Zura was like a bridge clipping his past and present under the name "Gintoki". His stubborn family. A brother, sometimes parenting him like a mother-hen, sometimes completely useless like a stupid child, and most times a wet-blanket-grumpy-jiisan. "In short: Gin and Zura share a drink and then the wig sleeps over at Yorozuya's.Written for Ginzura Week 2019 Day 3 Prompt "Family".





	In family you can be whatever you want, even yourself

**Author's Note:**

> Warning: might contain high dose of self-indulgement and OOCness.

A cold nose rubbed on Gintoki's cheek and a warm breath that smelled of mulled wine tickled the skin of his jaw. All of these inconveniencies would be bearable if not for annoyingly long silky hairs. The strands tried to suffocate him,  getting into his mouth with every word he needed to say to scold their owner, invading his nostrils with obscenely rich scent of a herbal shampoo.

"I hate it when you're drunk," he growled.

"Your fault," answered the body leaning on him. The arms, Gintoki himself threw around his shoulders to steady the grip, clung to him tightly. The body radiated with warm; not quite unpleasant experience in the middle of the winter night.

 "Geez, you sure know how to express your gratitude, Zura."

Sakata wasn't to blame for the situation, no. Who could have predicted that the full-time mother hen, who babbled even this evening about responsible drinking, would forget to eat a proper meal before? Eh, Gintoki couldn't shake of the feeling that he was framed into baby-sitting the wig  like he was some retarded cousin from the province devastated by the allure of a big city.

"It's Kats'ra," the body slurred; he was walking, but his head rested sleepily on Gintoki, letting be led through the streets of Kabuki. They had only visited a local pub and a winter fair. Zura practically had dragged him through the stands, excited at the burst of colors, lamps, smells, chippering about who knows what. Sakata didn't possess the ability to stay warm just by looking on  fairy-tale decoration, so he led them to the stands more suitable for adults. Zura's subsequent indisposition put a question mark over the rest of the night.

"I'll never go out drinking with you again," sighed Gintoki; from now on he needed to remember to go eating with him first. "Troublesome. You're troublesome, useless wig."

"Sure, said that last time, too. And it's not alcohol... but sugar in all that wine. I am sugar-poisoned."

"Sugar content was hardly enough. But now I'm serious, I won't come out with you ever again, to drag your sorry ass like you were some kind of an airhead teenage who doesn't know how to party. "

"Said that last time, too..."

"And that I'm going to drown you in the sewer?"

"Mhm," he confirmed, "something along the lines. And I'm not drunk. I'm Katsura."

"Every word you breath proves otherwise. Unless you want to admit you're all the time so stupid. I could believe in that, actually," Gintoki gathered the snow from a nearby car and threw a handful behind Zura's collar.

"Ah, ah, I'll kill you!" the man woke up from his half-slumber and danced frantically  to get the snow out of this clothes.

"Ha? You should thank me! I cured you!"

"To the conbini. I need some water and I'll be ok," he said like a zombie.

 

Gintoki regularly set off to his drinking adventure, but it was rare (too rare to his liking at least) time he managed to drag Zura along. Sure, they accidentally or not ran into each other every other day or so and if not, Katsura popped in at Yorozuya's, but those were fleeting encounters, moments uptorn from the busy days. And at nights their worlds converged even less. Whenever Gintoki was free and with money, the terrorist was engaged in his shady business or the police were sniffing around. Whenever Zura came back from hiding, Sakata had an important job in the morning or was helping Otose in her bar or was recuperating from the previous night's fun.

So when all the elements of this intricate puzzle finally fell into place, Gintoki drank hard, enjoying the presence of his childhood-and-current-friend to the fullest. Maybe it was alcohol, maybe it was Gintoki's company, but Zura changed at that moments too, as if he didn't need to constantly sit on edge, looking for dangers. He melted down into his innocent version that loved furry animals, maid cafes, colorful lights, and that made Gintoki himself feel as much innocent.  The terrorist would stop talking nonsense, or maybe alcohol in Gin's ears filtered the most stupid parts. The no-touch barrier fell  down too.

 

It was kind of lame of them, when you thought about it, that alcohol became a catalyst for them. Only in these circumstances they seemed more like themselves and not their daily masks - trusting, open,  protective of each other, even though the only dangers now were potholes, piles of snow on their way and occasional pickpockets.

It remained Gintoki of their childhood - and even war days, when three and then four of them cared about each other. They not only protected each other's back on the battlefield, but also each other's stomach from remaining empty, each other's sleep from falling into nightmares,  each other soul from falling apart. Gintoki had no experience with having a biological family, but he imagine having brothers felt just right that.

 

He couldn't deny it, he savored every bit of this night, even though it was shorter than expected. The only other times he would turn this vulnerably open to another were when he was severely hurt or going through a depressive shit time. So alcohol-induced good humor and closeness wasn't a bad alternative.

Had Zura known Sakata's thoughts, he might be able to come up with an appropriate piece of poetry, as a deep-shit metaphor, but luckily he was too busy giggling into Gintoki's shoulder at a joke he told by himself. After tanking up with canned coffee and some snacks at conbini, some life came back into Zura. Not Katsura, not the gloomy Edo top terrorist, not the bomber who dreamt of toppling the government, not the beast that slept behind the feline eyes. Just Zura, his Zura,  a good-hearted idiot, who had been always accepting Gintoki for who he was.

And he thought that at times like these he too was just Gintoki. Not a corpse-eating demon, not  Shiroyasha who slew hundreds of lives, not... , and not just Yorozuya defined solely by his work. Zura was like a bridge clipping his past and present under the name "Gintoki". His stubborn family. A brother, sometimes parenting him like a mother-hen, sometimes completely useless like a stupid child, and most times a wet-blanket-grumpy-jiisan. Nah, maybe his friend wasn't so bad, but Gin still needed to work on Katsura's inadequate feeling of responsibility and duty.

 

Sakata led them to Yorozuya's. If the circumstances allowed (that is Zura's condition) they could spend some time at Otose's Bar. If not, home was close enough. He wasn't sure where Zura was living at the moment, so it seemed the wig had to stick with him through the night. Just another thing to remember doing before going out with Zura - get to know his address.

Said man squatted down and tried to call off a fatty rat, probably mistaking it for a cat. Gintoki sighed and decided to get upstairs. It was too cold anyway.

 

"Oh, Gin-chan! Zura!" Kagura turned around from the TV. There were snacks all around her on the couch and floor."You're early!"

"Why aren't you sleeping!" Gintoki mustered the most scolding tone he could to keep up the image of a responsible parental figure.

"Huh? I want to watch a movie!" she said innocently.

"There's nothing for a little girls at these hours."

"I'm not little!" she huffed, "Zura, say something. Till midnight, please!" that was amazing how the little gorilla learnt to appeal from Gintoki's decision to the terrorist.

"Leader is by no means little. But Leader needs her beauty sleep too." he crashed on the second couch.

"Zura!" she cried, betrayed by her favorite subordinate.

"Gintoki is being very responsible today, so I agree with him, Leader." Sakata for once was grateful to Zura; parenting amanto gorilla alone could be a grueling task sometimes. But then the wig added in a loud whisper, "Besides, I am at his mercy now, I would rather sleep under the roof tonight." Gintoki slapped him at the back of the head, and Kagura giggled.

"Ok, ok, what are you watching anyway?" Gintoki asked.

"Star Wars."

"Oh, if it's Star Wars, then it's cultural education lesson!" Zura cut in.

"Shut up, wig, you're anti-hero today. You're sleeping in a dumpster tonight-"

"Ah, your bedroom you mean?" Gintoki slapped Zura for the second time.

"Kagura-chan, you can finish, but I don't want to hear you complaining tomorrow that you're sleepy."

 

Star Wars being Star Wars, they simply joined her on the couch, under one blanket.

When the movie finished, they bustled around for a while. Zura disappeared in the bathroom. Gintoki put Kagura to sleep.

"Gin-chan, what are we having for breakfast tomorrow?" she asked him from her closet, just when he was about to close the door.

"Ha? Why are you thinking about it now? Are you hungry?"

"I want to have something I can dream about at night."

"Don't worry, you'll get whatever you want."

"Really?"

"Ha," he smirked maliciously, "we'll guilt trip Zura to make us breakfast. It's a piece of cake."

Kagura smirked back. "And lunch! He needs to listen to his leader!"

"And dinner! Because we're not running a charity hostel."

"And clean the house! Because we're not running an animal shelter either."

"And do the groceries!"

"And fix the banner on the balcony"

"Eh, he can't fix anything, let's stick with cooking then. Sleep well, Kagura-chan."

 

"Mhm what does Gin-san like to eat? Pancakes? French toasts? mmhhm," he strolled to his bedroom, dreaming aloud. It wasn't hard to play on Zura's motherly instinct.

He slid the door open and gave out a growl of frustration at the sight. When did he? His futon was already occupied and the furry log didn't seem like moving soon. Another thing to remember before drinking with Zura: prepare a pit for his guest in advance. One more task on the list and Sakata will turn into an old responsible geezer.

Gintoki pulled out the second futon from the wardrobe and rolled it out beside Kotarou's. He lay down but the bedding was ice cold, smelling kind of musty, and the loose strands irritated him. Eh, the trail of personal sacrifices needed to end here. He rolled over to Zura and slipped under the duvet, pulling a good portion of it to his side, not trying to be subtle. If the other had a problem with it, please go ahead, the second futon was empty.

Zura tossed to his side. The duvet slipped off the man right into Gin's longing arms, who turned as well to face his guest. They stared at each other for a while, Katsura's eyes fuzzy, fluttering. Gintoki poked him in a cheek.

"Au!"

They started to wrestle for more place on the futon, for the reign over the duvet, for possession of the pillow. Of course, Gintoki won, he had Zura pinned under him in no time, the pillow and the cover tossed aside out of Kotarou's reach. He rested his head in the crook of Zura's neck, tired but satisfied with the spoils of war.

"Gintoki..."  dark-haired man turned his head to him, probably to scold him or say some nonsense like than he needed the duvet as well because it was a middle of the winter, but Gin, too, was turning his head right now. Their lips brushed. Purely accidentally. But another brush and another couldn't be excused that easily. The itching sensation, knot in the stomach and dizziness from the adrenaline-speeding heart. Mouths were greedy, hunger rising with each movement... a body beneath him radiating with soothing warmth...  and Zura accepting him for who he was, even now... putting so much trust in Gintoki...

There was a shuffling sound in the flat. They came to their senses at once.

"Oh, sorry, Zura," he moved aside. He quickly returned the pillow, spread the duvet over them (almost) equally and turned back.

"Ah, good night, Gintoki," the other man also shifted, so only their backs pressed to each other now.

 

And sometimes he felt Zura was, could be, like his crazy spouse. In another era, in another life maybe.

 

"Gintoki?" sleepy voice cut the silence. "did we just kiss?"

"I'm not interested in your wet dreams, Zura, seriously, I'll kick you out if you turn to my side."

Yeah, a retarded cousin under his care sounded more like it. Or simply "Zura" because that was who this person was to him.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading, feedback appreciated!


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